swarb.co.uk - law index
These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.
Utilities - From: 1990 To: 1990
This page lists 2 cases, and was prepared on 02 April 2018.
Merlin v British Nuclear Fuels plc [1990] 2 QB 557; [1991] CLY 2662; [1990] 3 WLR 383
1990
Gatehouse J
Damages, Utilities
The plaintiffs claimed that their house had been damaged by radioactive material that had been discharged into the Irish Sea from Sellafield which had subsequently become deposited in their house as dust. Held: The l965 Act required them to established that there had been damage to property, meaning tangible property. He went on to reject the plaintiffs' claim that the house included the air space within the walls, ceilings and floors and that it had been damaged by the presence of radioactive material which had resulted in the house being rendered less valuable. All that had happened was that the house had been contaminated and that did not amount to damage to property which was the type of damage for which the Act provided compensation. The fact that the house was less valuable was the economic result of the presence of radioactive material, not the result of damage to the house from the radioactive properties of the material.
Nuclear Installations Act 1965 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 Citers
Foster and others v British Gas plc [1991] 2 WLR 258; [1990] 2 CMLR 833; 2 CMLR 833 ECJ; C-188/89; [1990] ECR I-3313; [1990] EUECJ C-188/89; [1990] IRLR 353; [1990] 3 All ER 897; [1991] 1 QB 405; [1991] ICR 84
12 Jul 1990
ECJ
Sir Gordon Slynn, P
European, Utilities, Employment, Company
The defendants (BGC) were nationalised suppliers of gas. BGC was by statute a body with a legal persona operating under the supervision of the authorities. Its members were appointed by the Secretary of State, who also determined their remuneration. The statutory objective set was the development and maintenance of an efficient, co-ordinated and economical supply of gas for Great Britain. In conjunction with the Secretary of State it was to settle a research programme into matters which affected the supply of gas. Additionally, the Secretary of State had power to require BGC to report to him and comply with any directions he might give. The court asked whether British Gas was part of the State before it was privatised? Held:
The HL had held the British Gas Corporation (before privatisation) met the criteria of the ECJ for defining an emanation of state and that British Gas was bound by vertical direct effect.
It had been held in a series of cases that provisions of a European directive could be relied on against organisations and bodies which were subject to the authority or control of the State or had special powers beyond those which result from the normal rules applicable to relations between individuals. Reference was made to a number of its decisions to illustrate this point. Held: "It follows from the foregoing that a body, whatever its legal form, which has been made responsible, pursuant to a measure adopted by the State, for providing a public service under the control of the State and has for that purpose special powers beyond those which result from the normal rules applicable in relations between individuals is included in any event among the bodies against which the provisions of a directive capable of having direct effect may be relied upon."
ECJ 1. Unconditional and sufficiently precise provisions of a directive may be relied upon against organizations or bodies which are subject to the authority or control of the State or have special powers beyond those which result from the normal rules applicable in relations between individuals. They may in any event be relied upon against a body, whatever its legal form, which has been made responsible, pursuant to a measure adopted by the State, for providing a public service under the control of the State and has for that purpose special powers beyond those which result from the normal rules applicable in relations between individuals.
2. Article 5(1 ) of Directive 76/207 on equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment and working conditions is a provision which is unconditional and sufficiently precise to be relied on by an individual and to be applied by the national courts.
Directive 1976 EEC/76/207 5(1)
1 Citers
[ Bailii ]
